1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to routing systems for computer networks, and more particularly to the transmission of instructions to and receipt of data from such routing systems.
2. Related Art
Access and configuration of a routing system involves sending commands and instructions to and receiving information from the router itself. For routers using a version of the internetwork operating system (IOS), access is accomplished through the use of the IOS command line interface (CLI). IOS CLI is a comprehensive interface, which has expanded continuously as technology has improved over the past twenty years. Many companies now strive to support some variation on IOS CLI in their routing systems, and many consumers have invested heavily in IOS CLI support, developing complicated scripts to handle various configuration and access needs. As such, it is desirable for any improvements to router access and control to acknowledge the existing investments of consumers.
IOS CLI is not the most program-friendly of interfaces, however. Twenty years of consistency and backwards-compatibility, when coupled with continual improvements to the hardware and implementation of new features, has created an extensive interface. While a human user of IOS CLI may be able to sort through the complicated input and output scheme to input information and extract important data, it has proven to be a very difficult and cumbersome task to automate.
A system and/or method that allows for an easy, more structured approach to accessing and configuring a router, while still making use of the significant advantages and experience associated with IOS CLI, would be advantageous.